When the Ball Moves...Revisited

When the Ball Moves.. have published some great articles in the magazine version over the years but have you ever wondered what was said back then and whether it had any bearing on where we are now?

Today we launch a new service from When the Ball Moves...Online reviewing past articles from the magazine that are topical today giving a snapshot of where we were,what we were thinking and what happened after.

Our first offering is from Couch Potato from about a year ago, called 'An Admiration of Owen'.

CP sets the scene for the article today by saying:

Possibly what's interesting about it, is that it shows how wrong we fan-writers can be! Which in turn perhaps raises questions about how right any of us may or may not be currently about Brian Laws!

An Admiration of Owen

Club commentator Phil Bird, during the recent Wolves win, reminded us that many Burnley teams have faded in the second half of recent seasons… He also proudly declared that this one won`t. With the traditional post-Christmas slump now over, and recent performances arguably even better than the results, there`s reason for all of us to agree with Bird`s optimism. What`s the difference?

Is it all about Owen?

Across his decade in the Chair, Barry Kilby has employed just 3 managers. Can any English clubs except Arsenal and Manchester United claim to have employed so few during this time? Everton perhaps? Given this exalted company you have to at least ask who is behind the current success: club or manager?

Across the first Kilby decade (and let`s hope there`s another one) Burnley Football Club have shown commendable continuity and great sense of purpose in developments both on and off the pitch. This has continued through the years of Stan, Steve and now Owen.

Certainly there have been mistakes and setbacks in squad development, some self-imposed, some down to things like the collapse of ITV Digital. But the overall sense of direction has been there. The same sense of direction becomes even clearer when you look at the youth set-up, the facilities, the commercial side, the team-building off the pitch and the community programme.

Look as well as at the gathering together of so many former players, each bringing in something unique, but also something quintessentially Burnley Football Club, and quintessentially Burnley. Can you imagine any manger coming in and being given permission to change all of that? Short of meltdown, I can`t. So any current assessment of a Burnley manager has to begin by asking whether they 'fit in`.

There are reasons to admire not only the club`s record of standing by its managers, but also its appointment of Owen Coyle… and the way he both fits into, and adds to, a consistently well-directed organisation.

The eternal optimist

From the first time I saw him and heard him speak (at the 125th Anniversary Dinner on the night before his first game) Owen Coyle has come across as a never-say-die fighter against the odds, and as a champion of those who have to fight for success or survival. He understands the realities and aspirations of small towns. For folk who get up every day and face a struggle, he talks about each and every next game as being the toughest yet. Folk know what he means. There are times when you watch him, or look at the photos posted on the club site when things have not gone so well, that you know he feels the pain too. But what he adds to all of that is what Bird calls his eternal optimism.

Yes, every game is the hardest yet, but every game is there to be won. There`s no talk of Cup games being less important than League. There`s no excuse offered when a small club`s small squad is depleted by injury and suspension. He puts out his best team, expresses faith in them, and sends them out believing they can succeed. These are rare qualities.

One of the few gains from the 5-game losing streak is that we have seen that Coyle can carry on being Mr Motivator when refs and results conspire a bit against him.

What are the questions marks against him?

Thus far we have not seen many weaknesses in his make-up. One perhaps is that he sometimes seems to forget that not everyone in his squad has his same super-human mental strength. Another is perhaps the failure thus far to improve the red card count.

The latter could usefully be debated in an article at least as long as this one. Have all our reds in recent years been deserved? Might they be an outcome of over-motivation? Has Burnley been reaping the punishment that has previously been meted out on attack-minded Arsenal when players fight back after not being protected by refs? Is there an unconscious or even conscious communication between refs that Burnley is one of those places where you need to stamp your authority? There`s not space here to explore all these, and other, possible causes.

But a factor that could be causing lapses, both in discipline and in mental strength, is one that has been simmering as an area of fan disquiet all season long. Simply put, we don`t have a big enough defensive squad.

What`s more, extra pressure has been put on defenders: by the enormous number of games played; by the commitment to attack from first minute to last; and by what has presumably been encouragement to play out of tight spots at the back, rather than sometimes being willing to 'hoof it out`, as Bird called for when Wolves were on the Turf (soon after the Birmingham away defensive slip-up).

Should Owen have made defence a higher priority when the summer transfer window was open? He says he tried. How big a difference did losing Russell Anderson then make? How big a difference has Rhys Williams already suggested he can make? What kind of pressure have we the fans put on Coyle, post-Cotterball, to attack, attack, attack?

Let`s hope across this summer that we can retain our current attacking and midfield players. But let`s also find a few future Gary Cahills, so that our current, largely commendable, but sometimes severely stretched defensive players can be given an occasional break from living on the edge of their nerves, and rebuild their mental strength.

It is a mark of Coyle`s accomplishment that such criticisms, offered constructively, are worth making. So…

What makes him special?

If occasionally members of his squad have to take a rest, what`s more remarkable is that more don`t! Coyle`s coaching and physio team clearly know how to get players fit.

They also seem to be able to inspire youthful zest. In part this been done by bringing in younger players, some of whom (McDonald, Eagles, Williams, Paterson, together with McCann, MacDonald and Rodriguez whom they joined) are going to have bright to very bright futures. But it has also been done by breathing new life into old(er) warhorses such as Blake and Alexander.

Youthful zest has been combined with experience to foster versatility. Blake has changed from being a forward who could play midfield, to a real - and not infrequently amazing - midfielder. (I`ll never forget his tracking back and stretched clearance from the edge of the 6-yard box some 5 minutes before the end of the second Spurs leg. Caldwell gave him the highest praise for it from the SKY box.) Elliott has changed from being a right winger who very occasionally dropped to right back, to looking just as good in central midfield, whether attacking or holding. Alexander has been reinvented in front of the back four. Jensen has become… well, a completely new beast.

We worry about van der Schaaf, Penny and Berisha. But the record of Coyle and his coaches suggest that we should perhaps think of them as next year`s Jordans, waiting their turn to be reborn.

Versatility has also been a trademark of the on-field tactics. That versatility does not extend to shutting up shop. But we seem able to slip swiftly and effectively between different formations in both midfield and attack.

That players can do all of this is based firmly on hard work. But underpinning it seems to be an acute sense of motivational psychology. At its most overt this involves youth matches being written up on the club site by the team psychologist. It also comes out in consistent references to the squad being 'honest to a fault`, 'all good lads`. They work together, they play together. They even buy each other fancy underwear!!!

Combine all this with dash and daring, on the pitch and in the transfer market (Did anyone really think we`d sign a player from Man U with lime green boots and a hairband? Has anyone been upset that we did?) and we the fans love it. Of course, more than a good few of us still have some way to go before we master the same skills and mindsets of eternal optimism and inspirational behaviour. But, even we are showing some promising signs!

The finished article?

Having worked out of my system the disappointment of the mid-winter slump and of the away goals victory over Spurs being negated by unnecessary extra time, I can`t wait to see what Owen Coyle`s Burnley do across the rest of the 2008/9 season; and, regardless, I am almost more excited about seeing what happens between then and August.

The Eternal Optimist has said, more than once recently, that he feels we should already have done better this year so far. He has said that the team he has been managing now for just 15 months is not yet the finished article.

But Owen Coyle has fit straight into the organisation of Kilby, Flood and their lower profile directors (Don`t take them for granted when thinking about the rebirth of Bfc.). Coyle has built on the legacies of both Ternent and Cotterill, on the field and off the field. He has already left an indelible mark.

But The Eternal Optimist is not happy yet. Mr Motivator wants better. Kilby has said recently (Was in Claret and You at Christmas?) that managers do reach points when they need to move on. Even 'eternal` optimists burn out eventually, or accept new challenges. Already we are hearing Coyle`s name - which few of us recognised before he was appointed - being linked with vacancies at richer clubs.

But regardless of when or how he does move on, this club has already left an indelible mark on him. Coyle will always be a Claret. Long may we chant his name… and thank the Board for bringing him to Burnley.

First, I want to apologise for being so, so wrong in saying a year ago that Coyle understood how ordinariy folk feel. Beyond this, for me, if I try very hard to keep calm, the disappointing thing about Coyle is how he burned out when the pressure of playing at a higher level (perhaps a year before the squad was as ready as Coyle would have liked) got to him. One thing that I (and everyone else?) missed a year ago was the fact that he has never stuck at anything in his career for more than a couple of years. That is now a big question mark over his managerial future. Another thing I got wrong a year ago about Coyle was his 'fit' with the organisation. During the 9-game winless streak before he quit, there were various stories about people like Dobbo and Fletch trying to get him to try different things. It didn't sound like Coyle had much interest in what the Burnley Brains Trust had to say. In retrospect I wish Coyle had been given less of a free hand in the summer transfer window. Laws, I strongly suspect, listens much more to the Brains Trust, especially in action taken to start clearing out players that were just sitting on the sideline gathering their wages; and in terms of giving others of them a chance. Beyond this, I think it's too early to make an assessment of Brian Laws. But it feels as though some fans have made up their minds, even if we do somehow manage to stay up. The psychology of that is interesting. With some, I think it's perhaps just a deeply felt need to direct their anger at Coyle at someone else in his absence. With others it seems to be a lot about how they miss Coyle's touchline antics. With others again it's the disappointment of increasingly likely relegation, even if they had expected it in August. While with others it seems to be based more clearly on footballing reasons. Me? I will remain hopeful until the arthmetic says otherwise.

I think the biggest difficulty for the club was always going to be the flak if the results under Laws did not start going our way. If we survive,then great with some fans he will go from 'zero to hero' in completely the opposite way to Coyle. With others like me 'sitting on the fence' we will be delighted of course if that is acheived and I for one will still be prepared to give him a chance next season if we go down. It is interesting that in the poll we have just done ( spoilt towards the end by some childish pranksters) the results showed that in general 45% were willing him to stay, 10% were unsure and 45% were suggesting he should go either now or if relegated. I guess Brian has now got to convince the latter 45% by winning and surviving the drop

Been out all day, did the poll not show what we wanted??? I can't be blamed for that...I did warn you it was a dangerous line...how about a poll.....Will Iain Dowie keep Hull up? Or maybe should we have appointed Iain Dowie?

Some jerk or jerks,just today suddenly changed all the hard work into one of the options like 81%!! Luckily I always keep a record of these things before the spoilers have a go! Actually I thought 45:10:45 was pretty encouraging for Laws considering the results of late and the rumblings in pubs and the like

Interesting reading CP and really you shouldn't apologise. That's the thing with Owen, he hoodwinked all of us into believing he knew how ordinary folk felt.
We were naive to believe in him and very few people saw his ruthless streak for what it was.

Cheers, CC. I would say it's never too late to apologise. I would also normally say that it never hurts to apologise. But, I confess, I am spending more time than may be healthy for me dreaming up ways I would like to see Coyle apologise and, believe me, all of them would hurt. They may possibly become the subject of my next WTBM article... Ticketless going off the deep end? Well, the next game for which I am ticketless is just along the cut from Wigan Pier!

Please note the Editorial comments and opinions on this site are the personal views of the Editor and should not be construed in any way to be representative of those of other Clarets organisations of which he belongs e.g. Clarets Trust. This applies to both the front page articles and posts in any of the forums.

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